refuge

English

Etymology

From Middle English refuge, from Old French refuge, from Latin refugium, from re- + fugiō (“flee”). Doublet of refugium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛfjuːd͡ʒ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Noun

refuge (countable and uncountable, plural refuges)

1. A state of safety, protection or shelter.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Rocks, dens, and caves! But I in none of these / Find place or refuge.

2. A place providing safety, protection or shelter.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.

3. Something or someone turned to for safety or assistance; a recourse or resort.
   • 2011 December 21, Helen Pidd, “Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis”, in the Guardian:

     Since its conception, the European Union has been a haven for those seeking refuge from war, persecution and poverty in other parts of the world.

4. An expedient to secure protection or defence.
   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

     Their latest refuge / Was to send him.

   • a. 1639, Henry Wotton, An Essay on the Education of Children, in the First Rudiments of Learning, London: T. Waller, published 1753, page 17:

     This is occaſioned by this, that too too often the Teaching of a Grammar School is the ordinary Refuge that deſperate Perſons as to any other Employment in good Learning betake themſelves to; whilſt but a few know themſelves ſuited with intellectual and moral Abilities, and fewer have that Encouragement, when they undertake it, their Pains deſerve.

5. A refuge island.

Synonyms

• haven
• sanctuary
• zoar

Derived terms

• city of refuge
• harbor of refuge
• harbour of refuge
• house of refuge
• pedestrian refuge
• refugee
• refugitive
• refugium
• take refuge
• wildlife refuge
• women's refuge

 

Translations

state of safety, protection or shelter

• Arabic: مَلْجَأ m (maljaʔ), مَلَاذ m (malāḏ)
• Azerbaijani: sığıncaq
• Belarusian: прыту́лак m (prytúlak)
• Bengali: পানা (bn) (pana)
• Breton: repu
• Bulgarian: убе́жище (bg) n (ubéžište)
• Catalan: refugi (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 避難／避难 (zh) (bìnàn), 避難所／避难所 (zh) (bìnànsuǒ)

• Czech: útočiště (cs) n
• Finnish: turva (fi), suoja (fi)
• French: refuge (fr) m
• Galician: refuxio m
• German: Zuflucht (de) f
• Greek: καταφύγιο (el) n (katafýgio), υπόθαλψη (el) f (ypóthalpsi)
• Hindi: शरण (hi) f (śaraṇ), पनाह (hi) f (panāh)
• Ido: refujeyo (io)
• Irish: tearmann
• Italian: rifugio (it) m, riparo (it) m
• Japanese: 避難所 (ja) (ひなんじょ, hinanjo), 避難 (ja) (ひなん, hinan)
• Latin: refugium n
• Maori: punanga, piringa
• Middle English: refuge, refute
• Old English: ġebeorg n
• Ottoman Turkish: التجا (iltica)
• Polish: schronienie (pl), schronisko (pl) n, azyl (pl) m
• Portuguese: refúgio (pt) m, abrigo (pt) m
• Romanian: refugiu (ro) n, adăpost (ro) n
• Russian: убе́жище (ru) n (ubéžišče)
• Sanskrit: शरण (sa) n (śaraṇa)
• Serbo-Croatian: prib(j)ežište n

  Cyrillic: уточиште n

  Roman: utočište (sh) n

• Slovak: útočisko n
• Slovene: pribežališče n
• Spanish: refugio (es) m
• Telugu: శరణము (te) (śaraṇamu)
• Turkish: sığınak (tr)
• Ukrainian: приту́лок (uk) m (prytúlok)
• Vietnamese: nơi ẩn náu, nơi trú ẩn
• Welsh: encil m, lloches f

place providing safety, protection or shelter

• Armenian: ապաստան (hy) (apastan)
• Azerbaijani: sığıncaq
• Basque: aterpe
• Breton: repu
• Bulgarian: убежище (bg) n (ubežište)
• Catalan: refugi (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 避難所／避难所 (zh) (bìnànsuǒ)

• Czech: útočiště (cs) n
• Danish: tilflugtssted n
• Dutch: schuilplaats (nl)
• Ewe: sitsoƒe
• Finnish: turvapaikka (fi), suojapaikka
• French: refuge (fr) m
• Galician: refuxio m
• Georgian: თავშესაფარი (tavšesapari)
• German: Herberge (de) f, Zuflucht (de) f
• Greek: καταφύγιο (el) n (katafýgio), άσυλο (el) n (ásylo)

  Ancient: φυγάδιον n (phugádion)

• Hebrew: הקדש (hekdeish), מִפְלָט (he), מִקְלָט (he)
• Irish: tearmann
• Italian: rifugio (it) m
• Japanese: 避難所 (ja) (ひなんじょ, hinanjo)
• Latin: refugium n
• Macedonian: збег m (zbeg)
• Maori: punanga, piringa, kuhunga
• Middle English: refuge, refute
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tilflukt m or f

  Nynorsk: tilflukt f

• Old English: friþstōw f
• Ottoman Turkish: التجا (iltica)
• Polish: przytułek (pl) m, schronienie (pl) n, schronisko (pl) n, azyl (pl) m
• Portuguese: refúgio (pt) m, abrigo (pt) m
• Russian: убе́жище (ru) n (ubéžišče), укры́тие (ru) n (ukrýtije)
• Sanskrit: ओकस् (sa) n (okas)
• Serbo-Croatian: prib(j)ežište n
• Spanish: refugio (es) m
• Tagalog: kayap
• Tocharian B: waste, śarāṃ
• Ukrainian: приту́лок (uk) m (prytúlok), при́хисток (uk) m (prýxystok)
• Vietnamese: nơi trú ẩn

something or someone turned to for safety or assistance

• Ewe: sitsoƒe
• Finnish: turva (fi), tuki (fi)
• Galician: refuxio m
• Greek: προστασία (el) f (prostasía), άσυλο (el) n (ásylo)
• Latin: refugium
• Middle English: refuge, refute
• Portuguese: refúgio (pt) m
• Serbo-Croatian: zbjeg (sh) m

refuge island — see refuge island

Verb

refuge (third-person singular simple present refuges, present participle refuging, simple past and past participle refuged)

1. (intransitive) To return to a place of shelter.
   • 2011, Michael D. Gumert, Agustín Fuentes, Lisa Jones-Engel, Monkeys on the Edge:

     Among these macaques, although activity cycles are quite variable from location to location, refuging is a common characteristic.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To shelter; to protect.

Translations

to return to a place of shelter

• Catalan: refugiar-se (ca)
• Galician: refuxiarse
• Spanish: refugiarse (es)

to protect

• Catalan: refugiar-se (ca)
• Galician: refuxiarse
• Ido: refujar (io)
• Spanish: refugiarse (es)

Anagrams

• Fugere

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin refugium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.fyʒ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

refuge m (plural refuges)

1. refuge

Related terms

• réfugier

Descendants

• → Turkish: refüj

Further reading

• “refuge”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Verb

refuge

1. second-person singular present active imperative of refugiō

Middle English

Alternative forms

• reffuge, reyfuge

Etymology

From Old French refuge, from Latin refūgium. Compare refute.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rɛˈfiu̯d͡ʒ(ə)/

Noun

refuge (plural refuges)

1. refuge (state or means of protection)
2. refuge (place of protection)
3. A protector; one who protects or safeguards.

Descendants

• English: refuge

References

• “refū̆ǧe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old French

Alternative forms

• reffuge, refiuge, refuje

Etymology

From Latin refugium. Doublet of refui.

Noun

refuge oblique singular, m (oblique plural refuges, nominative singular refuges, nominative plural refuge)

1. a refuge
2. (figuratively) a protector or savior

Descendants

• French: refuge
  • → Turkish: refüj
• → Middle English: refuge, reffuge, reyfuge
  • English: refuge